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JSTo.  3. 


SPEECH 


OF 


Hon.  G.  M.  Robeson, 


OF  NEW  JERSEY, 

In  the  House  of  Representatives, 

Saturday,  April  10,  1880. 


The  House  being  in  Committee  of  the  Whole,  and  having  under  consideration  the  bill 
(H.  It.  No.  5523)  making  appropriations  for  the  support  of  the  Army  for  tlie  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1S8J,  and  for  other  purposes— 

Mr.  ROBESON  said: 

Mr.  Chairman:  I  would  be  glad  to  have  the  amendment  reported. 

The  Clerk  read  as  follows  : 

Sec.  2.  That  no  money  appropriated  in  this  act  is  appropriated,  or  shall  be  paid,  for  the 
subsistence,  equipment,  transportation,  or  compensation  of  any  portion  of  the  .Army  of  the 
United  States  to  be  used  as  a  police  force  to  keep  the  peace  at  the  polls  at  any  election  held 
within  in  any  State. 

Mr.  ROBESON.  By  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States, 
the  highest  and  ultimate  tribunal  of  judicial  judgment  under  the  organization 
of  our  Government,  it  has  been  declared,  “  that  the  Government  of  the  United 
States  may,  by  means  of  physical  force  exercised  through  its  official  agents, 
execute  on  every  foot  of  American  soil,  the  powers  and  the  functions  which 
belong  to  it.  This  necessarily  involves  the  power  to  command  obedience  to 
its  laws,  and  hence  the  power  to  keep  the  peace  to  that  extent.”  This  is  the 
inevitable,  incontrovertible  result  of  right  reasoning  from  established  princi¬ 
ples.  This  declares  the  principle  on  this  subject  of  the  Constitution  of  our 
country,  (a  principle  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  Anglo-Saxon  govern¬ 
ment,)  and  these  are  the  conclusions  which  follow  inevitably  from  it.  All 
laws  of  Congress  are,  and  must  be  held  to  be  made,  in  the  light  of  those  prin¬ 
ciples  which  have  been  settled,  adjudicated,  and  declared  by  the  highest  tri¬ 
bunal  of  the  country ;  and  this  law,  if  it  becomes  law,  must  mean  and  be  un¬ 
derstood  to  mean  just  what  is  permitted  by  this  declaration  ;  otherwise,  if  not 
unconstitutional,  it  is  at  least  in  defiance  of  constitutional  command,  and  in 
derogation  of  constitutional  duty. 

In  the  discussion  of  this  question,  Mr.  Chairman,  which,  to  my  mind,  lies 
not  only  at  the  foundation  of  the  power  of  the  Government  in  this  country, 
but  relates  to  the  very  principles  upon  which  rests  the  superstructure  of  popu¬ 
lar  government— in  the  discussion  of  this  important  question,  I  shall  deal  in 
no  flowers  of  speech,  nor  indulge  in  the  unsubstantial  harmony  of  declamation. 
I  shall  declare  what  I  conceive  to  be  undeniable  principles,  and  shall  endeavor 
to  follow  them  by  unwavering  logic  down  to  irresistible  conclusion  ;  and  if  I 
fail  to  convince,  the  fault  will  not  be  with  the  truth  which  I  declare,  but  must 
rest  either  with  the  minds  and  temper  of  my  auditors  or  in  the  want  of  power 
‘of  the  humble  individual  who  has  attempted  their  illustration. 

This  amendment  looks  to,  and  is  meant  to  control,  the  execution  of  United 
States  law  on  election  day.  Need  I  pause  to  say  to  you,  citizens,  Representa¬ 
tives,  Americans,  that  if  there  be  a  day  in  the  calendar  when  the  laws  should 
have  full  sway ;  when  that  atmosphere  of  perfect  peace  and  perfect  liberty 
which  can  only  be  found  in  the  enjoyment  of  freedom  under  the  perfect  con- 


o 


trol  of  law  shall  surround  us  and  our  action  like  the  “all-incasing  air,”  that 
day  is  the  one  day  which  is  set  apart  by  the  laws  of  our  country,  on  which  the 
freemen  who  are  to  govern  this  continent  act  in  their  individual  capacity  for 
themselves,  and  set  in  motion,  primarily,  the  political  machinery  of  our  Gov¬ 
ernment.  We  are  so  familiar  with  their  action  on  that  day  that  we  do  not  ap¬ 
preciate  its  significance  and  force.  The  orderly  gathering  together  on  election 
day  of  the  free  voters  of  a  great  republic,  with  a  continent  as  an  empire  and 
freedom  as  a  heritage,  and  there  exercising  their  political  will  under  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  law,  supreme,  powerful,  efficient,  and  all-pervading,  to  keep  the 
peace  for  the  perfect  exercise  of  that  will,  is  as  sublime  a  spectacle  in  govern¬ 
ment  as  the  world  has  ever  seen.  To  accomplish  that  result'  all  the  agencies 
of  political  progress  and  civilization  have  culminated  here  on  our  shores.  That 
is  the  day  of  American  freedom,  that  union  of  liberty  and  law  which  is  our 
heritage,  not  the  day  of  its  celebration,  but  the  day  of  its  exercise.  That  is 
the  time  and  there  is  the  place  when  and  where  the  American  citizen  impresses 
for  himself,  and  not  through  any  representative,  his  will  upon  American  pol¬ 
icy  and  government.  There  and  then  he  casts  that  vote, 

A  weapon  that  comes  down  as  still 
As  sn®w-flakes  fall  upon  the  sod  ; 

But  executes  a  freeman’s  will. 

As  lightning  does  the  will  of  God. 

And  if  there  be  one  day  in  the  whole  calendar  of  time  when  the  laws 
should  not  only  exist,  but  when  they  should  be  powerful  and  effective,  when 
they  should  be  able  to  command  all  the  force  of  the  government  for  the  pres¬ 
ervation  of  peace,  this  is  that  day.  If  there  be  such  a  day  more  than  another, 
when  is  it  if  this  be  not  it !  If  the  laws  of  the  country  are  to  be  executed, 
and  for  that  purpose  its  peace  preserved  at  all ,  will  you  make  an  exception  of 
election  day  ?  Does  the  Democratic  party  of  this  country  choose  byitsaction 
to  say,  “We  will  reluctantly  execute  the  laws  ;  we  will,  for  very  shame,  main¬ 
tain  peace ;  we  will  sustain  the  Government  on  every  clay  except  on  election 
day,  but  upon  that  occasion,  when  the  freemen  of  the  country  desire  freely  to 
execute  their  will,  and  without  let  or  hinderance  to  impress  their  power  upon 
the  Government  of  the  country,  we  cannot  afford  to  keep  the  peace  of  the 
United  States!” 

Let  us  look  at  this  question  as  it  is.  What  is  government !  Government 
is  an  organization  of  civil  society  which  governs;  and  for  that  purpose  makes 
and  executes  laws.  If  it  does  not  make  the  laws,  it  is  no  government.  If  it 
does  not  execute  them,  it  does  not  govern.  There  can  be  no  government,  in 
theory  or  in  fact,  which  lias  not  the  power  to  execute  its  laws. 

Are  these  propositions  fair  ones  !  Can  anybody  dispute  them !  Is  any¬ 
body  bold  enough  to  deny  them  ! 

Next  let  us  consider  what  are  laws.  Laws  are  those  rules  which  a  govern¬ 
ment  executes;  and  if  they  be  not  executed  by  government  they  are  not  laws. 
How  do  governments  execute  their  laws!  By  force.  Who  shall  deny  it! 
Why  are  laws  efficient  and  why  do  they  govern  the  actions  of  men  !  Because 
they  have  the  power  of  the  government  behind  them.  What  is  the  power  of 
the  government  !  The  physical  force  at  its  command.  Laws,  then,  are  those 
rules  which  governments  execute  by  physical  force.  Shrink  not  from  that 
proposition,  for  none  can  deny  it.  Society  is  organized  in  order  to  put  the 
whole  power  of  the  community  into  the  form  of  laws  and  regulations,  behind 
which  the  whole  strength  of  that  organized  community  exists  in  the  shape 
and  substance  of  what  we  call  the  civil  power.  Nothing  is  law,  then,  which 
is  not  to  be  executed  by  the  power  of  the  government — that  is,  by  physical 
force. 

Sir  William  Blackstone  has  defined  municipal  law  to  be  “rules  of  civil 
conduct  prescribed  by  the  supreme  power  of  the  State,  commanding  what  is 
right,  and  forbidding  what  is  wrong.”  The  whole  theory  of  law  which  I  have 
declared,  is  to  be  found  in  that  exact  and  comprehensive  language.  It  is  a 
rule  prescribed  by  the  supreme  power  of  the  State ,  by  the  government,  which 
carries  with  it  not  only  the  authority  but  the  force  to  execute  its  will. 

Now,  Mr.  Chairman,  by  what  means  is  this  force  to  be  applicable  to  the 
execution  of  laws!  In  this  country,  under  our  constitutional  system  born  of 
the  line  of  English  precedents,  traditions,  and  laws,  and  in  the  light  of  Eng¬ 
lish  history,  and  established  in  the  atmosphere  and  operating  according  to  the 
principles  of  Anglo-Saxon  common  law,  all  laws  are  executed  in  time  of  peace 
and  under  ordinary  circumstances  by  the  executive  through  the  civil  officers 
of  the  government.  I  do  not  contend  that  in  time  of  peace  under  ordinary 
circumstances  and  without  special  authority  of  law,  the  civil  laws  are  to  be 


3 


\ 


executed  by  tbe  Army,  under  military  control  and  acting  directly  under  mili¬ 
tary  inspiration.  Mark  well  the  proposition  as  I  have  endeavored  accurately 
to  state  it.  I  yield  nothing  of  the  power  of  the  Government  necessary  for  its 
preservation  and  safety.  This  is  no  question  of  direct,  forcible  attack  upon 
government.  Then  governments,  like  men,  are  driven  to  their  reserved 
forces,  and  have  and  must  have  and  must  exercise  all  their  force  for  self-pres¬ 
ervation,  and  are,  if  necessary,  a  law  unto  themselves  for  that  purpose.  Such 
is  not  the  proposition  now,  nor  are  we  maintaining  this  power. 

But  we  do  now  say  that  the  Republican  party  is  the  party  of  civil  govern¬ 
ment  ;  and  it  believes  that,  to  govern,  the  Government  must  have  laws  to 
carry  out  its  constitutional  rights  and  duties,  and  that  the  failure  to  make 
these  laws  is  a  failure  of  constitutional  duty.  And  it  believes  that  when 
these  laws  are  made,  the  Government,  if  it  is  a  government,  must  execute 
them ;  that  if  they  are  to  be  executed  they  are  to  be  executed  by  the  power  of 
the  Government  which  is  behind  them;  that  if  the  power  of  the  Government 
is  behind  any  law,  it  must  be  there  every  day  in  the  year ;  and  that  if  any  part 
of  the  power  of  the  Government  is  behind  any  law,  the  whole  power  of  the 
Government  must  be  there.  Who  shall  deny  tliis  last  proposition  ?  Who  will 
state  and  defend  the  monstrous  anomaly  that  a  part  of  the  force  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  is  behind  the  law  and  not  the  whole ;  that  the  Government  is  bound 
and  its  officers  sworn  to  execute  a  law,  and  that  it  has  reserved  strength  which 
it  will  not  use  to  execute  it  ? 

No,  sir;  such  is  not  the  character  of  American  law,  nor  the  spirit  of  the 
American  people.  If  it  be  law,  it  must  be  executed  to  the  very  edge  if  neces¬ 
sary,  and  all  the  power  of  the  Government  is  and  must  be  behind  it. 

To  go  a  little  more  into  detail,  Mr.  Chairman :  under  Anglo-Saxon  govern¬ 
ment  the  process  of  the  execution  of  the  law  is  this :  The  laws  are  made  by 
the  legislative  power  in  obedience  to  the  constitutional  duty  and  obligation 
imposed  by  the  commands  of  the  Constitution.  They  are  executed  by  the 
executive  power,  through  the  civil  officers  of  the  Government,  to  whom  in 
time  of  peace  is  ordinarily  intrusted  the  execution  of  these  laws,  and  into 
whose  hands  is  given,  for  that  purpose,  the  whole  physical  power  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernment  and  all  the  strength  of  the  people.  Is  that  a  fair  proposition  ?  Does 
it  command  the  assent  of  thoughtful  minds,  and  will  it  have  the  affirmative 
.assent  of  patriotic  action  ? 

Now,  how  do  the  civil  officers  execute  the  laws  in  this  country?  They  put 
in  motion  primarily  the  machinery  provided  to  carry  them  into  execution. 
They  breathe  the  inspiration  of  life  into  the  system  and  put  it  into  working 
order  and  effective  operation  on  all  persons  anti  things,  so  that  the  freemen  of 
the  country  may  exercise  their  inalienable  or  guaranteed  rights  in  its  atmos¬ 
phere  and  under  its  protection,  and  “in  the  peace  of  the  United  States.”  And 
if  any  man,  by  force  or  by  fraud,  by  riot  or  by  confusion,  by  wrong  action  or 
by  unjust  command,  seeks  to  interfere  with  that  exercise,  and  break  that 
peace,  they  put  down  that  interference  and  they  keep  the  peace  for  that  pur¬ 
pose. 

How  do  they  keep  that  peace?  First,  by  the  majesty  and  respect  of  the 
law  itself.  In  what  consists  this  majesty  of  the  law,  and  whence  comes  its 
respect?  It  consists  in  the  strength  of  the  Government,  and  comes  from  the 
fact  that  the  individual  who  represents  it  is  clothed  with  the  power  and  backed 
by  the  force  of  the  whole  people.  If  the  wrong-doers  submit,  nothing  further 
is  required.  If  the}'  do  not  submit,  what  then  is  to  be  done  ?  All  the  forces 
of  the  civil  power,  as  represented  by  its  executive  officers,  are  then  called  in 
requisition.  If  this  be  not  sufficient  for  the  purpose,  wliat  then?  The  by¬ 
standers  may  be  called  upon.  If  they  be  not  sufficient,  or  if  they  be  not  proper 
persons  for  any  reason,  or  if  they  be  the  very  people  who  are  making  the  dis¬ 
turbance  and  encouraging  or  enforcing  the  wrong,  what  then  is  to  be  done? 
The  peace  must  be  kept  by  the  whole  force  of  the  bailiwick,  “the posse  comi- 
tatus ,”  covering  and  including  the  whole  power  of  the  Government ;  includ¬ 
ing  every  citizen  who  is  under  the  protection  of  the  laws,  all  the  militia, 
organized  or  unorganized,  all  the  Army,  wherever  it  may  be,  within  read), 
every  man,  citizen  or  soldier,  militia  or  regular,  that  is  or  can  be  brought 
within  reach. 

This,  you  will  see,  is  not  the  Army  moving  with  the  “plumed  troops”  and 
in  the  “big  wars”  which  make  military  power!  and  primacy,  but  the  Army 
held  in  subjection  by,  and  subordinate  to,  and  acting  as  the  instrument  and 
the  weapon  of,  civil  power. 

Can  this  be  denied  ?  Who  dare  deny  it  before  the  good  sense  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  people?  Who  has  the  courage  to  stand  up  here  in  his  place  and  say  that 
that  is  not  the  true  theory  of  Anglo-Saxon  government,  upon  which  our  Con- 


4 


stitution  is  founded  and  upon  which  it  rests ;  in  striking  at  which  you  strike  at 
the  very  foundation-stone  of  its  power,  till  the  edifice,  symmetrical  and  beau¬ 
tiful  as  our  fathers  left  it,  may  topple  to  its  fall  ? 

These  armed  citizens  come,  not  as  warriors,  but  as  the  servants  and  con¬ 
servators  of  peace,  contributing  only  to  her  victories,  no  less  important  than 
those  of  war.  They  are  not  armies  surrounded  by  the  “pomp  and  circum¬ 
stance  of  glorious  war,”  excititg  the  imagination,  swaying  the  feelings,  and 
trampling  on  the  rights  of  the  people ;  they  come,  arrayed  not  for  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  their  Government,  but  for  its  safety,  its  maintenance,  and  its  preser¬ 
vation.  As  illustrative  of  this  I  will  read  a  few  lines  from  the  speech  of  Lord 
Mansfield  in  the  British  House  of  Lords,  upon  the  Westminster  riot  cases,  in 
which  lie  puts  this  projiosition  exactly : 

The  military  have  been  called  in- 

Said  lie— I  read  from  Hansard’s  Keports,  volume  21 : 

The  military  have  been  called  in,  and  very  wisely  called  in,  not  as  soldiers,  but  as  citi¬ 
zens  ;  no  matter  whether  their  coats  are  red  or  brown,  they  have  been  called— 

Not  to  strike  down,  but— 

in  aid  of  the  laws;  not  to  subvert  or  overturn  the  Constitution,  but  to  preserve  both. 

Is  that  right  or  is  it  wrong  ?  If  there  were  riot  in  the  city  of  Washington 
on  election  day  so  violent,  so  uncontrollable  that  it  threatened  with  its  terrors 
the  destruction  of  your  beautiful  city  and  all  that  the  country  has  done  to 
adorn  its  Capital,  would  it  not  be  competent  for  the  civil  officers  of  the  law, 
acting  under  our  Constitution  and  our  laws,  to  call  upon  the  organized  force 
of  marines,  which  is  quartered  yonder  within  half  a  mile  of  this  Chamber, 
and  bring  them  up  as  citizens  of  this  country,  under  its  laws  subordinate  to 
its  civil  power,  for  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  preservation  of  the  peace 
of  the  country  ? 

This,  as  I  have  said,  is  the  very  last  and  fullest  subordination  of  the  mili¬ 
tary  to  the  civil  power.  It  is  no  exercise  of  military  dictatorship.  It  lias  no 
element  of  Ctesarism.  It  is  a  splendid  spectacle  of  peace,  liberty,  and  law — 
armed,  organized  military  power  marching  under  the  banners  of  peace,  armed, 
with  the  weapons  of  civil  liberty,  carrying  on  their  shoulders  bayonets  that 
think,  the  very  safeguards  of  American  institutions,  and  following  humbly 
and  simply,  cheerfully  and  obediently,  under  the  control  of  civil  power.  The 
military  shall  be  subordinate  to  civii  power.  Yes.  That  is  its  noblest  atti¬ 
tude,  because  it  shows  that  it  is  the  weapon  of  law,  which  may  be  used  and 
rightly  used  for  the  civil  purposes  of  peace,  and  will  not  itself  seek  domina¬ 
tion  and  command. 

The  military  acting  subordinate  to  the  civil  power.  Why,  if  your  amend¬ 
ment  does  not  mean  that  it  shall  so  act,  then  it  means  to  destroy  this  principle 
and  to  say  that  the  military  shall  not  be  subordinate  to  the  civil  power.  Does 
it  not  mean  that?  If  you  do  not  mean  that,  you  must  mean  that  when  civil 
laws  are  to  be  executed,  and  when  peace  is  to  be  maintained  by  civil  officers  in 
order  that  the  freeman’s  will  may  have  full  and  free  control,  that  at  that  time 
and  there  the  Army  shall  no  longer  be  subordinate  to  civil  power,  shall  not 
come  to  its  assistance  when  properly  called  upon,  but  shall  refuse  or  be  pow¬ 
erless  to  act  for  civil  purposes  and  under  civil  control,  and  shall  stand  idly  by 
to  see  peace  destroyed  and  civil  government  overthrown,  till  quiet  and  orderly 
citizens  must  either  submit  to  the  domination  of  force  or  fraud,  the  rule  of  the 
bludgeon  or  the  knife,  or  the  civil  laws,  which  are  powerless  because  unexe¬ 
cuted,  must  give  way  and  be  silent  in  the  presence  of  armed  power,  because 
the  legislative  power  will  not  provide  for  them  adequate  force,  and  martial 
law  must  prevail  because  it  only  can  be  executed. 

Mr.  Chairman,  the  first  direction  that  we  receive  upon  the  subject  of  the 
execution  of  the  laws  is  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.  In  the  third 
section  of  the  second  article  we  find : 

■  The  President  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed. 

r 

The  President  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed !  That 
is  the  constitutional  provision,  clothing  the  President  with  affirmative  power, 
and  enioining  upon  him  an  affirmative  duty. 

Olq  but,  say  gentlemen,  the  President  cannot  act  unless  that  power  be 
organized  bv  the  National  Legislature  into  the  forms  of  law.  Suppose,  for  the 
purpose  of  this  argument,  I  admit  that.  Where,  then,  does  it  put  the  opponents, 
of  this  executive  power  ?  The  Constitution  says : 

“He  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.” 


5 


That  is  undoubtedly  a  constitutional  duty.  But  it  requires,  you  say,  that' 
the  National  Legislature  shall  act  to  put  it  in  motion.  Then  it  is  your  con¬ 
stitutional  obligation  and  duty  so  to  organize  it  into  the  forms  of  law,  but  if 
you  do  not  so  organize  it  you  yourselves  fail  in  constitutional  duty.  Accept  the  / 
position  if  you  wish.  Go  before  the  country  on  that  day  when  the  freeman  ex¬ 
ercises  his  power,  and  say  to  him :  “It  is  true  here  is  a  law  upon  the  statute- 
book  which  we  by  our  votes  have  made,  pretending  we  would  give  you  free 
elections  ;  it  is  true  that  the  President  is  called  upon  by  the  Constitution  affirma¬ 
tively  to  take  care  that  it  be  faithfully  executed.  But  it  is  necessary  that  to  ex¬ 
ecute  it  he  should  have  his  power  for  that  purpose  organized  in  forms  of  law. 
But  that  is  our  constitutional  duty,  and  we  refuse  to  do  it.  This  is  the  Con¬ 
stitution  our  fathers  gave  for  the  government  of  the  country,  which  we  swore 
to  maintain  before  high  Heaven  when  we  stood  here  and  took  our  oaths  of  of¬ 
fice.  That  is  the  Constitution  upon  which  rests  the  structure  of  our  Govern¬ 
ment,  the  liberties  of  our  people,  the  last  hope  of  freedom  for  all  the  world. 
Here  is  our  duty  imposed  expressly  upon  us,  but*we  decline  to  execute  it,  for 
fear  our  party  may  lose  its  majority .”  Gentlemen,  pause.  Some  of  you  have 
formerly  been  arrayed  against  this  Constitution  and  this  Government — I  refer 
to  it  only  as  a  matter  of  history — but  when  you  were  so  arrayed  you  took  your 
lives  in  your  hands,  and  poured  on  the  altar  of  success  your  fortunes  and 
your  sacred  honors ;  you  appealed  boldly  to  the  God  of  battles,  and  stood 
bravely  on  a  field  where  every  man  who  fell  could  see  the  foe  who  struck  him ; 
but  nsw  you  are  enlisted  under  the  banner  of  that  Government;  you  are  its 
chosen  representatives ;  you  are  sworn  into  its  service ;  you  have  pledged  your 
honor  and  your  oaths  that  you  will  maintain  its  Constitution  and  carry  out 
its  laws.  You  are  armed  with  its  weapons,  admitted  inside  the  defenses  of  its 
strength,  have  control  of  its  citadel,  make  its  defensive  garrison.  Would  you 
now  saw  oft  its  flag-staff,  undermine  its  walls,  spike  the  cannons  of  its  strength, 
bind  its  defenders  hand  and  foot,  and  poison  the  pure  well-spring  of  its  power 
at  its  source?  Are  such  the  plumed  troops,  these  the  big  wars  that  make  am¬ 
bition  virtue  ? 

Oh,  gentlemen,  the  history  of  the  world  presents  many  spectacles  which 
according  to  moral  or  political  law  may  be  considered  outrageous  and  wrong, 
but  in  which  the  very  magnitude  of  the  struggle  itself,  the  audacity  of  the 
courage  displayed,  the  mighty  interests  and  splendid  destinies  of  nations  which 
follow  in  its  track  of  fire,  and  the  imperial  spirit  which  inspires  its  sacrifices 
and  guides  its  action,  conspire  to  defy  reprobation,  if  they  do  not  disarm  criti¬ 
cism. 

Thus  it  has  been  said  that  ambition,  though  a  vice,  is  a  vice  so  equivocal 
that  it  seems  to  sometimes  verge  on  virtue ;  that  though  its  grasp  may  be  ruin 
and  its  flight  may  be  famine,  yet  it  sits  on  earth’s  pinnacle,  and  sports  with  the 
lightnings  of  heaven.  But,  gentlemen,  there  is  neither  heroism,  patriotism, 
nor  ambition  in  that  spirit  which,  intrusted  by  a  confiding  country  with  the 
*  welfare  of  the  Government,  would  betray  it  to  its  destruction  and  its  fall. 

Now,  gentlemen,  how  are  these  laws  to  be  executed?  The  President  is  to 
“take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed.”  What  does  that  mean?  He 
shall  take  every  means  in  his  power  to  do  it.  Not  that  he  shall  order  the  Army 
under  its  military  officers,  and  acting,  as  I  have  said,  directly  under  the  mili¬ 
tary  inspiration,  to  execute  the  civil  laws,  but  that  if  it  be  necessary,  or  if  it  be 
likely  to  be  necessary,  he  shall  have  not  only  ready  but  amply  ready  and  con¬ 
venient  every  element  of  physical  force  which  the  Government  has  a  right  to 
control,  ready  to  apply  it  at  a  moment’s  notice.  What  sort  of  an  officer  would 
lie  be  who,  acting  under  military  orders,  if  ordered  to  support  a  division  to¬ 
morrow  with  his  corps,  keeps  it  fifty  miles  away,  so  that  such  support  would 
be  impossible?  What  sort  of  a  President  would  lie  be,  acting  under  the  com¬ 
mand  of  his  constitutional  obligations  and  duty  and  the  force  of  his  constitu¬ 
tional  oath,  if  he  had  reason  to  believe  that  there  was  to  be  organized  riot  in 
the  city  of  New  York  on  next  election  day,  that  five  thousand  men  were  to  be 
there,  organized  or  unorganized,  ready  to  put  down  the  law,  to  destroy  the 
peace  of  the  United  States,  and  to  interfere  with  the  popular  will— what  sort  of 
a  President  would  he  be  if  he  did  not  have  every  soldier  he  could  muster  ready 
to  execute  and  maintain  the  laws ;  not  by  military  power,  not  as  a  military  con¬ 
stabulary  force,  but  to  be  there  where  they  were  needed,  restrained  under 
proper  commands,  waiting  for  the  call  of  the  civil  power  and  acting  under  its 
control  and  governed  by  their  orders  whenever  action  was  necessary  ? 

I  am  happy  to  say  that  that  President  under  whose  banner  I  served,  and 
Vf  whose  administration  I  was  an  humble  member,  whenever  lie  had  informa- 
Jon  that  the  laws  of  the  United  States  were  to  be  threatened  and  interfered 
jrith  in  their  execution,  provided  all  the  force  of  the  Government  at  command, 


6 


to  be  ready  at  the  call  of  the  civil  power  to  maintain  the  laws  and  to  keep  the 
peace  for  that  purpose,  whenever  and  wherever  it  was  threatened  or  dis¬ 
turbed.  Do  not  misunderstand  me,  gentlemen.  I  have  already  said,  and  will 
»  say  again,  if  need  be,  that  in  time  of  peace,  and  in  the  absence  of  specific  law 
authorizing  it,  the  military  power  of  the  Government  is  not  to  be  used  as  a 
military  organization,  acting  under  military  inspiration  alone,  for  the  execu¬ 
tion  of  civil  law. 

But  I  do  say  that  all  the  military  power  of  the  Government  is  at  the  com¬ 
mand  of  the  President  and  of  the  civil  officers,  when  properly  called  upon  for 
the  proper  execution  of  the  laws  of  the  country.  And  I  say  that  that  Presi¬ 
dent  fails  in  his  duty  before  God  and  man,  before  our  generation  and  in  the 
face  of  our  hopes  for  the  future,  who,  if  he  is  informed  of  and  understands  its 
need,  fails  to  have  that  power  ready  for  use  wherever  and  whenever  the  occa¬ 
sion  absolutely  requires  it. 

Gentlemen,  Democrats,  this  law  appointing  marshals  to  keep  the  peace  at 
the  polls  was  passed  by  .your  votes,  since  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  affirming  the  constitutionality  of  the  election  laws  and  the 
Tight  and  power  of  the  Government  to  keep  the  peace  for  their  execution,  and 
I  suppose  it  is  to  be  construed  by  that  decision,  that  all  you  mean  by  it  is  to 
declare  an  unquestioned  principle,  that  the  military  arm  of  the  country,  as  a 
military  organization,  acting  under  military  officers  and  by  direct  military  in¬ 
spiration,  is  not  to  be  used  as  a  constabulary  force;  that  they  are  not  the  peo¬ 
ple  who  are  to  act  in  the  first  instance  to  keep  the  peace.  But  you  do  notmean 
to  say,  in  the  face  of  that  decision,  and  in  the  face  of  the  constitutional  duty 
and  power  which  are  there  affirmed,  that  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  a  part 
of  the  physical  force  of  the  Government,  is  not  at  the  command  of  the  civil 
officers  of  the  Government  whenever  it  is  necessary  for  the  execution  of  the 
law  and  the  preservation  of  the  i^eace  of  the  United  States  for  that  purpose. 

If  there  is  any  doubt  of  your  intentions  and  position  on  this  subject  I  will 
give  you  a  chance  to  define  it  by  your  votes  before  this  bill  becomes  a  law,  and 
shall  judge  you,  as  the  people  will,  by  your  conduct  and  not  by  your  profes¬ 
sions,  if  you  refuse  to  carry  them  into  action. 

Last  session,  gentlemen,  if  they  saw  fit,  might  stand  upon  the  question 
that  the  United  States  had  no  peace  to  preserve ;  that  it  was  the  peace  of  the 
State,  and  must  be  preserved  by  the  power  of  the  State.  But  the  Supreme 
Court  has  now  decided  otherwise,  and  declared  that  the  United  States  may 
execute  its  laws  at  any  place,  at  any  time,  and  in  any  State,  and  may  preserve 
its  peace  for  that  purpose.  I  would  say  to  my  friend  from  Maryland,  [Mr. 
McLane,]  if  he  were  here,  that  there  is  now  a  decision  of  the  Supreme  Court 
that  the  United  States  has  “a  peace  to  preserve;”  and  that  decision  goes  also 
to  the  extent  that  it  lias  the  power  and -the  duty  to  preserve  it. 

Those  gentlemen,  who  standing  in  their  representative  capacity  here  said 
in  effect  bv  their  votes :  “It  is  true  that  this  is  the  decision  of  the  Supreme  # 
Court  of  the  United  States;  it  is  true  that  by  that  decision  these  laws  are  con-  * 
stitutional ;  it  is  true  that  they  are  to  be  executed,  and  it  is  true  that  there  is  a 
peace  to  be  preserved  for  that  purpose;  but  as  the  representatives  of  the  peo¬ 
ple,  as  members  of  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  the  Government,  we  refuse  to  be 
controlled  by  that  decision,  and  therefore  will  not  vote  for  this  law,”  are  con¬ 
sistent. 

Wrong  as  I  think  them,  false  as  they  are  in  position,  unconstitutional  as  is 
their  stand  in  refusing  to  execute  a  constitutional  duty,  they  at  least  preserve 
their  consistency  in  wrong.  But  to  those  men  who  have  made  this  law  pro¬ 
viding  for  the  services  of  marshals  at  elections,  who  have  said  that  there  shall 
be  marshals  to  carryout  the  election  law;  to  those  who  have  said  that  these 
marshals  shall  be  clothed  with  the  power  of  civil  government,  shall  have  the 
power  to  enforce  the  law,  I  put  the  inquiry:  Where  do  you  stand ?  Will  you 
say,  “Yes,  -wehave  made  this  law;  but  the  Government  shall  not  execute  it, 
if  it  needs  power  to  do  so;  if  no  power  is  needed  to  execute  it,  then  let  it  be 
enforced;  but  if  it  is  resisted,  if  it  needs  forcible  execution,  we  will  clothe  the 
Government  with  no  weapons  of  power  for  that  purpose?”  On  which  side  are 
you,  gentlemen?  Are  you  on  the  side  of  government,  of  law,  of  constitution, 
of  right?  Do  you  believe  that  that  only,  is  a  government  which  makes  and 
executes  law ;  that  if  it  fails  either  to  make  laws  or  to  execute  them,  it  is  no 
government?  Do  you  believe  that  laws  are  rules  to  be  executed  by  all  the 
force  that  the  Government  can  command?  Or  do  you  deny  fhose  proposi¬ 
tions?  If  you  deny  them,  I  am  able  to  understand  you;  but  if  you  accept 
them,  and  refuse  by  your  action  to  carry  them  out,  I  beg  you  will  understand 
that  if  you  trifle  thus  with  the  intelligence  of  the  American  people,  and  think 


7 


you  deceive  them,  you  are  ‘‘like  little  wanton  boys  that  swim  on  bladders,  far 
but  beyond  tlicir  depth.” 

Let  us  understand  what  you  mean  by  this  proposition — you  gentlemen 
who  have  introduced  and  vs  ted  for  it.  Do  you  mean  that  the  President  shall  ' 
retain  all  his  constitutional  power  for  the  execution  of  the  law  through  the 
civil  officers,  and  that  if  need  be  every  man  and  every  boy  in  this  country  w  ho 
can  carry  a  firelock  shall  be  organized  and  called  upon  to  enforce  the  laws  and 
maintain  the  Government;  or  do  you  mean  that,  as  I  have  said,  being  inside 
the  fortress  and  clothed  with  the  weapons  of  the  strength  of  this  Government 
you  will  spike  its  guns  and  leave  it  to  disorganization  and  destruction?  Take 
which  side  you  please.  We  accept  the  issue  before  the  country.  The  Repub¬ 
lican  party  stands  on  it  to-day.  Laugh  not  in  your  assumed  cleverness,  think¬ 
ing  that  you  have  got  us  in  a  trap  by  means  of  this  equivocal  provision.  Truth, 
right  principle,  is  never  in  a  trap.  It  marches  right  onward  from  principle  to 
achievement.  It  is  only  cowardice  or  subterfuge  that  puts  itself  in  the  w  rong. 
[Loud  applause.] 

[Here  the  hammer  fell.] 

Mr.  ATKINS.  I  w  ill  move  that  the  gentleman’s  time  be  extended,  if  he 
desires  to  go  on.  [Cries  of  “That’s  right. ” ] 

Mr.  ROBESON.  If  anybody  will  undertake  to  answer  my  propositions,  I 
shall  be  very  glad  to  reply.  I  will  reserve  the  time  gentlemen  so  kindly  offer 
me  to  reply  to  any  one  who  wTill  answer  my  propositions. 

The  CHAIRMAN.  The  gentleman’s  time  is  exhausted.  The  Chair  has 
recognized  the  gentleman  from  Ohio,  [Mr.  Keifer.] 

Mr.  TUCKER.  We  might  give  the  gentleman  from  New  Jersey  more 
time  to  enable  him  to  say  something  that  would  require  answer. 

Mr.  ROBESON.  Truth  is  unanswerable;  you  must  accept  it  or  be  silent’ 


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